Disney Photo Overload...

Here are all of our fun pictures from Disney. We had such a fun time! :)

 

The first night we got there, we did Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Landry dressed up as "Lapunzel" (aka: Landry as Rapunzel...ha!). We borrowed a Mickey costume from a friend because we didn't think Collier would dress up. That was pretty much how it went...we actually had to force him to put his outfit on after he wet out of his diaper and ran around the park without pants for a few hours. We were total rednecks and loved every second of it.

 

 

The cheesiest princess smile you have ever seen. She was having a blast!



We stayed at the park until 11:00 that night and had a very sleepy (and half naked) Mickey and a passed out princess. 

The second day, we started off with breakfast with Cinderella and her princess friends in the castle. Landry loved it, and Collier could have cared less. A few people made comments about how uninterested Collier was. He wanted the cheesy eggs and all the sweets though!

We rode some rides after breakfast and then went back to the resort to change clothes and rest for a while. When we got back, we had more time to meet the kids' other favorite characters and ride more rides.

Teacups!

Ok, so Rapunzel was the one who finally won Collier over. He LOVED her. His shirt had Paschal on it, and she really talked it up. It was absolutely precious. A funny man in line behind us said, "He's a stud!" Hahaha!

A quick game of peekaboo with Snow White...why not?

 The most important mouse!

Pure joy...

A 10:30 PM visit with Tinkerbell...Collier was somewhere behind me throwing himself on the ground and screaming. :)

Our last day, we ended up doing Hollywood Studios. We hadn't planned on this (planned to do Magic Kingdom the whole time), but the kids loved it! They had the Disney Junior characters there, and that was a big hit!

Lots of 3D fun!

Collier was terrified of Woody and Buzz (seriously, they were over 7 feet tall!), but he ended up picking out a Buzz souvenir.

Poor Collier asked to see Pluto the whole trip, and when we finally ran in to him, he was passed out! At least we had a picture to show him. :)

 

 2 1/2 days of Disney madness wore this little 2 year old out. I'm sure he won't remember much of this trip, but he had a lot of fun for the most part!

 

I'll go ahead and start planning our next trip in a few years. Can't wait to go back!

Disney Vacation...Part One!

We got back from our long weekend at Disney World on Monday. We planned this trip for the "big" kids after Parke passed away and before we found out about Bretton. It was hard leaving our sweet 3 1/2 week old behind, but we had a great (and exhausting!) time with Landry and Collier. While we were there, I was SO thankful that I didn't try to "super-mom it" and take Bretton with us. We all would have struggled and wouldn't have been able to rush around like we did.

 

I'm posting just a few pictures today, and then the photo bomb will drop tomorrow with everything else. The ongoing theme you will see in most of the pictures is that Collier was totally un-interested. His favorite part of the entire trip was riding the bus to and from the resort. He would cry while we were at the park and ask to go ride the bus...hilarious. Landry had the time of her life, and she has not stopped talking about the princesses since we left. She dressed up every day and met all of her favorite people!

 

We hope to go back again, but we will probably try to wait until Bretton is AT LEAST 2. Maybe he will be a little more laid back than Collier and our trip could still be pleasant. Ha!

 

My attempt to get a picture of L and C together in front of the castle. Collier pranced around and stood everywhere except where I wanted him. :)

 

 

 

 

 So...individual pics will do. Sweet boy!

 My dramatic little princess.

A nice man came up to her one day and said, "Oh my goodness! You look just like a princess!" Landry looked at him with a very serious face and said, "I am." (like, duh!)

Oh my, she was in princess mode for sure!

 

The kids missed Bretton while we were there, and it was a little confusing for Landry at times. She asked if Bretton went to be with baby Parke, and we had to explain to her again and again that wasn't where he was. When we left Friday morning, my mom came to get Bretton from us. After it all sunk in for Landry, she would tell total strangers, "My Mimi took my baby brother, but she's going to give him back!" :)

The precious little minds of children.

 

I loved the memories we made this weekend. This was our first real family vacation (minus B) without grandparents. We've done weekend trips with the kids before, but this was the first big trip as a little family. It was really funny when we realized, and I told Micah it made me feel like a grown-up. Ha! He didn't say that, but I think it made him feel that way too. It kind of reiterated what we were talking about last week that WE (the 5 of us plus precious P in heaven) are our own family and our little "team" is the most precious blessing God has given us. We are so grateful for the time we get to spend together! 

Refocusing...

Well, once again, I didn't blog when I intended to. I think this is going to be the story of my life for a while. Honestly, this past week has been interesting. God has been working in my life to just clear our some junk...and has been speaking to me through the strangest circumstances.

 

 I am refocusing on what matters most to me, and sometimes blogging just isn't it. If I have to choose between snuggles or blogging...snuggles win every time! I'm so stinkin' grateful for this little family that God has chosen just for Micah and I to share. I know that being a mommy to my needy, wonderfully funny, painfully challenging, precious babies is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

 

 So, part of what refocusing means is that {so sorry}, but you don't matter as much to me at this point. :) What I mean by that is I feel guilty every once in a while for not keeping up with the blog more regularly because I know some of you check in on us everyday...and I love you for that. But, I'm getting back to blogging purely for selfish reasons...to document this little life of ours for our kids. To write things down so that my terrible memory has words and pictures to stir the moments back in my mind and bring me back to these precious days once again. Landry has really started enjoying looking back at our blog books from the past several years, and it is so fun to have multiple things from each week of her life that I can show her. So, so fun to see her reaction to hearing sweet stories about herself! :)

 

 

So, besides snuggling (which we've been doing a lot of), Landry has become the best little helper. I am seriously going to do a post of her quotes soon, but one of her favorite things is for her to be the "mommy." She wants to do everything I do, and she wants to do it herself. She helped me bake cookies the other day and did lots of the measuring and pouring all by herself. She even unwrapped the butter, and only snuck about 100 M&M's.

She stood on those tip-toes forever...I don't know how she wasn't in pain. Ha!

 

She loves to feed baby Bretton, and will even bring me diapers when he needs to be changed. I can't convince her to learn that part yet. Ha!

Currently, Landry and Collier are attached at the hip. Landry is the first thing Collier asks for in the morning, and they cry when they leave each other. They are the most precious little buddies!

 

These moments are just too sweet to miss.

So, my blog posts may be regular...or they may not be. We will see.  

 

 

 

We're reunited!

Bretton and I got to leave Oklahoma last week and come home! We got here a few days before Micah got back from beach vacation with the "big" kids, and it was nice to get settled in a bit before the chaos of real life with 3 busy babies started.

 

Bretton was a little bummed to leave Uncle Tyler and Aunt Emily. We really had a good time living with them for over a week!

But, friends were waiting in the driveway when we got home to meet our newest man!

Bretton has settled in to being an Arkansan pretty quickly. He is honestly the best baby. He sleeps amazingly well at night, eats great, will take any bottle or pacifier I put in his mouth, goes from formula to breast milk (donated by 3 of my most precious friends) like it's nothing, and sits quietly and contently the rest of the day. He's a doll! Hope this bliss continues...

He and I went to Saturday night church while we were waiting on Daddy and the kids to get home...

 

And he was snuggled by more sweet arms!

 Our family was reunited late Saturday night and we spent all day Sunday loving on and snuggling with one another. We were all happy campers.

Monday was my first day alone with all 3 kiddos. I planned on staying home and adjusting a bit. Instead, I took all 3 monkeys to the doctor! Collier has a double external ear infection (from swimming), Landry's chest was congested (normal for her with any weather or climate change), and Bretton needed a weight check. We were all still alive when we left, and we even met up with Micah for lunch!

B is up to 8 pounds and 7 ounces...growing like crazy!

Tuesday, I lugged all the babies to Bible study, and Bretton got to hear some teaching and have quality time with our small group. :) That afternoon, we had our babysitter come and I was able to feed Bretton, stick him in his swing, and have a quick date with each of the other kids before he woke up!

Coffee and Sam's Club with my absolute favorite girl...

Sephora returns and Fresh Market with my middle man...

Good thing he doesn't know what a "fun" date is yet. He's just thrilled to get one-on-one time! :)

 

So...we're getting back in a routine. I'm hoping to get better about taking pictures and get back on the blogging train. I hate missing out on documenting theses sweet milestones for the kids.

Coming tomorrow...the most hilarious Landry quotes you've ever read. She keeps me rolling!